Festival Theatre, Malvern – until 15th February 2025
Reviewed by Courie Amado Juneau
4****
George Orwell’s classic work of allegorical fiction, Animal Farm, gets the full stage treatment at Malvern Theatres tonight and it turned out to be an impactful production.
The set (from Lighting and Set Designer Ciarán Bagnall) was interesting – although set on a farm, it was more industrial than field. A stroke of genius since factory fodder (read “mechanical progress”) rather than pastoral peace hit all the right notes. It gave the cast plenty of opportunities for ingress and egress and a rather useful place for the 7 commandments to be writ large. Masks hanging around the set gave one a teaser of the action to come (as well as some conveniently placed props for when needed).
The music (from Dylan Townley) was superb. Just like in the best films, it set the scene and provoked an emotional reaction. Plenty of low subsonic noises combined with other discordant, disjointed sounds reminiscent (to this vegetarian at least) of the anguish of animals… It all reminded me of the works of Angelo Badalamenti (composer for many of David Lynch’s concoctions, including Twin Peaks).
The actors gave their all both emotionally and physically. The mannerisms that they produced really brought to life the creatures they were portraying. The horses Boxer (Sam Black) and Clover (Natalia Campbell) were two of the highlights and (along with Benjamin the Donkey (Soroosh Lavasani) and Mollie the selfish mare (Olivia Chandler)) represented us, the common folk, the workers and those who look the other way. The scene where Boxer is taken off to “hospital” is particularly affecting, almost visceral, as was the aftermath scenes. Brilliant work from all involved, including Director Iqbal Khan.
The pigs were real swine (their joke, not mine but a clever pun nonetheless) with Rhian Lynch thoroughly enjoying herself as porky dictator Napolean. But the star of the show was Lewis Griffin as Squealer (an apt character name if ever I saw one!). If he gets tired of the stage he could certainly slot in nicely as a believable politician! I mean that as a compliment to his acting skills in this role btw.
The original novella ended with the animals looking in the windows of Manor Farmhouse, watching the pigs and the humans playing cards. Napolean and Farmer Pilkington each simultaneously played an ace of spades, meaning of course that they both cheated. The animals could not distinguish between the pigs and humans. A satisfying conclusion that left no ambiguity as to the ultimate message the author wished to convey. This adaptation by Ian Wooldridge had no such payoff which, I’m sad to say, resulted in a rather confusing jumble without that very certain moral point.
When the show worked well it did so convincingly. With an accomplished, committed and full blooded performance from all on stage, and a thoroughly modern interpretation that is all the rage at this time, it’s bound to be a crowd-pleaser. An uncomfortable watch at times as it’s too close to the bone (of human nature) and too reflective of the political world we still, sadly, see. Having much to say to our present generations, I hope that many of them take the opportunity to catch this hard-hitting literary classic.